1. Field of Invention
A transportable caddy for sports equipment provides multiple storage containers and structures for storing sports equipment in a secured frame, providing a ball rack with a release means allowing for the balls to be intentionally released into the playing arena, storage containers for clean and dirty sports gear, sports markers and hardware, refreshment containers, and other items associated with a particular sport, primarily soccer, basketball, baseball or other sport which requires the transport of bulk equipment to and from the practice or playing venues.
2. Description of Prior Art
The following United States patents were discovered and are disclosed within this application for utility patent. All relate to storage and transport devices for sports equipment.
A sports equipment cart is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,719,306 and 6,663,119 to White. In White '119, The sports bag defines a primary tube, preferably made from PVC tubing. The tube has an upper ball receiving opening and a lower saddle shaped ball dispensing aperture from which balls stored in the tube may be manually withdrawn. Two wheels are mounted on an axle at the lower aperture, allowing the “cart” to be pulled by a handle near the upper opening. An outer surface of the tube provides paired spaced holes for pegs to be placed, as well as other smaller ball containing secondary tubes. The drawings also indicate means for attaching a baseball bat the outer surface of the primary tube. Large balls are stored in the primary tube and smaller balls are stored in the secondary tubes. White '306 is virtually the same patent except that it provides two tandem primary tubes and covers for the wheels, not disclosed in White '119, and also indicates a couple of different extruded handles as opposed to the cutout handle of White '119. The later patent also shows a variety of different wheels on the lower end of the device.
Of similar design, disclosed elements and function is U.S. Pat. No. 7,398,888 to Nowak, which is a ball carrying caddy made from metal wire defining a cylindrical cage and wire hooks, which rolls across a surface providing a vertical stack of balls loaded from an upper aperture and removed from a lower aperture by manually withdrawing the lowest ball in a stack. U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,595 to Chilton shows a cylindrical ball dispenser mounted to a surface holding a stack of balls to be withdrawn from a lower aperture and loaded at an upper opening.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,988,433 to Crum, yet another cylindrical ball holding device is shown holding a stack of balls dispensed manually at a lower end by pulling down on the sides of the ball to rotate and remove it from side stoppers which hold the lower most ball within the cylinder. There is also some type of spring, arm and hinge described in the specification of this patent referred to, but not shown in any drawings that can release the ball. It is highly unlikely this patent would have issued had it been filed under the recent heightened scrutiny of the patent office, but some type of unknown means does exist for releasing the ball in the stack in the verbiage of this patent. Additional objects are located on the outer surface of the tube, including hook-like objects, air pumps, air vent holes serving no apparent purpose, and a dispenser rod with a flag connected to a cross hair, setting on top of the uppermost ball to indicate how many balls are in the tube if a use is unable to see the balls through a vertical slot in the side of the cylinder.
A sports equipment container having wheels and a handle and sports equipment stored inside its several compartments and storage containers is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,612 to Buccioni. The device indicates a first storage container attached to the wheels and handle, and a second detachable frame with doors mounted to the container. The doors provide access to the internal compartment of the container and also provide a mounting surface for baskets and racks. Several baskets and racks are also suspended within the inside of the primary compartment which may hold nearly anything. The doors to the container are hingably engaged and also provide a means of securing and locking the equipment inside. In other words, it appears to be a piece of rolling luggage with an intended use for carrying sports equipment, including a hockey stick attached by some clips on the outside of the container, which demonstrates the hockey sticks serving as the handles used to tilt and roll the device during transport. Similar storage devices are also shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,293 to Fowler, 7,229,085 to Pederson, and 3,010,775 to Giovannelli.